Rome Reborn's updated website opened to the public

We're back! During the past several months, we have been completely rebuilding our website. The new site features the new version of the city model, Rome Reborn 3.0.

As older followers of Rome Reborn will recall, the project from the start divided the features of ancient Rome into two categories reflecting the nature of our knowledge of Rome's urban archaeology: Class I and Class II. The Class I features are those known in great detail with respect to location, design, function, name, and history. Examples are the Baths of Caracalla, Colosseum, Pantheon, and many more. The Class II features are those known from the quantitative information provided in the Regionary Catalogues, which give a census of the building stock of the city by type and by Augustan region. The Class II buildings are, for the most part, apartment buildings. While precision is not possible, a reasonable estimate is that there are ca. 150 Class I buildings and monuments and ca. 7,000 Class II buildings. This table shows how the city model has evolved since the project was founded in 1996:

Version

Class I

Class II

1

Hand modeled using MultiGen Creator in FLT format. Ca. 30 of the 250 Class I buildings were made.

Derived from laser scanning Italo Gismondi’s Plastico di Roma Antica (the great physical model of Rome in the Museum of Roman Civilization at Rome/EUR)

2

The Creator models were converted to OBJ format. Several new models were added (notably the Pantheon) using 3D Studio Max. Through an agreement with the University of Caen Normandy new Class I models were incorporated including the imperial for and the Theater of Pompey. The models were not optimized for real-time use and hence could best be used for video rendering . Over 3 million people have viewed the videos we freely posted on YouTube and Vimeo (see, e.g., our very popular Khan Academy video at: https://youtu.be/e_phjB19ZEg).

All content deriving from the scan of the ‘Plastico” was removed and the models were rebuilt using CityEngine

3

All the models previously used were discarded and new versions were built on the basis of new topographical research. 3D Studio Max was used. New Class I monuments were added, including, notably, the Domus Augustana. The models have been optimized to run in real-time applications.

The CityEngine content was optimized for use in real-time applications.

The website has two main sections. The first is a publicly available section providing information about Rome Reborn 3.0, including, for the first time, products you can purchase for use on personal computers (Mac and Windows) and Virtual Reality headsets.

The second section is open only to Community members. To join the community is free: all you have to do is register. Once in the community, you can take assessments to gauge your level of expertise after experiencing a Rome Reborn® product. You can see your ranking as a world-class expert on ancient Rome. You can earn awards for your achievements. You can share your thoughts on the Forum with other members, and you can spread the word about Rome Reborn® through your social network. If you are a teacher, you can customize this part of the website to serve as courseware for classes on ancient Rome.